N.C. Pastor Won’t Perform Weddings Until Gay Marriage Legalized

The pastor of a church in North Carolina said he they will not conduct any kind of wedding ceremony until same-sex marriage is legalized.

Green Street United Methodist Church Senior Pastor Kelly Carpenter told North Carolina’s NBC-TV affiliate WXII that members of his congregation and its elders have agreed with him.

On Friday, the church’s Facebook page stated, "The church sees injustice in the legal position of state government and the theological position of our denomination."

The statement also called on other ministers to join its cause. "Because the United Methodist Church prohibits its pastors from conducting same-sex weddings, excluding gay and lesbian couples from the holy sacrament of marriage, the Leadership Council has asked their pastor to refrain from conducting wedding ceremonies in our sanctuary for straight couples, until the denomination lifts its ban for same sex couples," the statement added.

Carpenter will instead hold "relationship blessings" for straight couples until North Carolina and the United Methodist Church agree that gay couples should be allowed to marry.

Carpenter told North Carolina’s public radio station WFDD that his congregation currently has 15 gay and lesbian couples as members. Raw Story reported that Green Street is probably the first Methodist church in the South to prohibit weddings because of their support for marriage equality.

The United Methodist Church voted two years ago to continue its ban on same-sex marriage. Its bishops also voted to enforce rules against those pastors who continued to officiate at such weddings.

The Methodists began as a grassroots evangelical group in England in the 18th century. It was suppressed by the government, whose state religion was Anglican. The denomination took root in the American colonies.

Today, American Methodists are divided between the more liberal urban congregations and far more conservative rural ones. The United Methodist Church has 7.8 million members in the United States.

As more and more Americans have accepted marriage equality, the issue has increasingly become a thorn in the side of the Republican Party. Several of the party’s elder statesmen and behind-the-scenes players are quietly urging the party either to let the issue drop or even come out for marriage equality.

Last week, Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, a leading policy statesmen for the party, made headlines when he announced he supported gay marriage after having strongly opposed it it for years after his won came out to him.

The issue has Protestant denominations in the center of the national debate on the issue. Several mainline Protestant denominations have been moving toward full acceptance of gay marriage, including The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

In a sign that even evangelical churches are moving the needle, on March 17, Robe Bell, a controversial author and former pastor of one of the nation’s most prominent megachurches, Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., announced that same-sex marriage was compatible with his church’s teachings. Grand Rapids, Mich. NBC affiliate Wood-TV.

"I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it’s a man and woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man. I think the ship has sailed and I think the church needs -- I think this is the world we are living in and we need to affirm people wherever they are," Bell said at a forum.

Comments

Anonymous, 2013-03-20 15:06:48

This man is obviously the last pastor you’d want performing a gay wedding.

Anonymous, 2013-03-20 15:38:58

Instead if a ’relationship blessing’ how about a ’going to another church and by the way go fuck yourself’ reply from gay parishioners?The episcopal church doesn’t seem to suffer from a case of incurable bullshit.

Bill Lavy, 2013-03-20 17:37:50

Why the negative comments? This is the kind of support we need or did I read the article incorrectly ?

Wayne Madden, 2013-03-21 16:59:51

Pastor Carpenter shows the true courage of a genuine Chistianity, recognizing all marriages need support and all families need support. The blessing is that there are many more Christians like him (although pseudo-Christians opposed to equality seem to get more coverage. As for the two "Anonymous" comments above, I suggest that you keep you negative hatefulness to yourselves.

Anonymous, 2013-03-23 16:52:50

I think you all and Rev Carpenter needs to read Genesis 19 the whole chapter AND Romans chapter 1 verses 17-32..Obviously you or Rev Carpenter haven’t read the Bible.God rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah for their wicked homosexual acts and there are many other places in the Bible about this subject. Read it and see for yourself.Marriage is between a man and a woman.

Wayne Madden, 2013-03-23 20:19:22

To the anonymous person who can quote the Bible, but does not consider the historical and scientific context in which the Bible was written: Please do not think that because you can quote the Bible that you and other pseudo-Christians really understand it in context. While the Bible is inspired by a deep desire to serve God and promote The Kingdom, it was written in a time with no scientific understandings and concerned many abuses of sexuality, not the faithful and responsible living of sexual gifts. Furthermore, if you read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah carefully, you will understand that these cities were destroyed for general wickedness and only the crime of attempted rape was punished on the night previous by striking the attempted rapists blind. If you or your church thinks that marriage should be between a man and a woman only, then that is your right to follow that belief for yourself. You have no right to force your religious beliefs on other people and other churches. In America (United States and Canada), we have freedom of religion not a state religion.

LGBT North Carolinians continue to fight a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships in the state. Voters will vote on Amendment One in May after lawmakers approved the referendum earlier this month.